He's Too Late, She's Finished
by Beautiful-Writing-Girl
Summary: Final chapter posted. Summary: Sasuke comes back after six years so now he can concentrate all his love and attention on Sakura. But she doesn't want it. She loves Gaara now and Sasuke just needs to get over it. How far will Sasuke go?
1. Chapter One: The Love Lost in Time

Chapter One – The Love Lost in Time

**This Fanfiction was inspired by the song Against All Odds by The Postal Service, it's not necessarily a songfic cause it doesn't match the music at all, but I was listening to the song while I was writing 'cause it's sad and everything, so yeah. **

**BEGIN**

**READING…**

**NOW!**

**Summary** – Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? He finds her and professes his love to her and…

**Disclaimer** – sarcastic oh yeah, I SOOOO own Naruto and everything, I could be SOOOO brilliant to come up with these awesome characters and romances, YEAH RIGHT! Anyway, I don't want to get sued, so I don't own Naruto or anything.

HERE'S THE STORY!

As Sasuke made his way back to Konoha after six long years he thought about Sakura. He was now 19 and knew he was meant to be with her. He hadn't been able to keep her out of his mind. He kept remembering the night he had left Konoha. "_I love you so much. If you stay here I promise everyday you'll be happy,"_ Sakura's voice rang out clearly in his mind like a broken record player. Somehow he had convinced Orochimaru to remove the cursed seal and let him go. But he had promised to come back every three years. For what, he hadn't said. He walked up to the entrance and looked at the guards on duty.

"I'm here to see the Hokage to request a mission," he stated simply, he had never met the guards before and so he knew they wouldn't recognize him, as long as he stayed out of sight, he wouldn't be caught before he arrived at the Hokage's office. The guard nodded and allowed him to pass. He jumped from roof to roof swiftly. He arrived at the Hokage's office and knocked on the door. He heard a male's voice say "Enter."

He slowly opened the door to reveal Hyuuga Neji. He knew his face gave away some shock but he quickly recovered, he couldn't say the same for the Sixth though. Neji quickly stood up and shouted, "Who let this scum into the village!"

"Calm down, you're not the one I'm looking," he said calmly. "I'm looking for-"

"Sakura?" Neji cut him off. He stood up and moved around his desk. "She no longer lives in Konoha. She got married. You can find Naruto to find out the rest of the details. I'm busy." He sat back down at his desk and continued leafing through the giant stacks of papers on and around his desk, although Sasuke caught sight of a picture of TenTen in a simple, long white kimono and Neji in dark robes. Sasuke smirked and let out a short chuckle while he closed the door.

After Sasuke had left the Hokage's office he headed straight for the Ichiraku Ramen Shop that he knew Naruto would most likely be at. He saw Naruto sitting in the middle stool of the ramen shop and simply sat next to him. He ordered a bowl of ramen, looking down with his eyes shadowed over from his hair. Naruto didn't even bother to look over at him, he just enjoyed the ramen that he had been eating since he was very young.

"You haven't changed a bit, scaredy-cat," Sasuke stated so quietly that only Naruto could heard him, not that there was anyone else anywhere close to listen in on a conversation.

"What was that?" Naruto said angrily, noticing the "stranger" next to him for the first time. "S-Sasuke…-teme?"

Sasuke didn't even look at Naruto, he merely continued to stare at his arms that he had folded on the counter in front of him. "I hate to admit it, Naruto. But I've actually been missing that nickname you gave me." He laughed low and short.

"What are you doing back in Konoha?" asked Naruto, looking back his bowl of ramen.

"I'm looking for-"

"Sakura?" Naruto cut him off like Neji had done.

Sasuke sighed. "How does everyone know that?" he asked to no one unparticular.

"It's kind of obvious, teme," Naruto answered before slurping down the broth that was left in his bowl.

"So?"

"What?"

"Do you know where she is?"

"Who?"

"SAKURA, YOU BAKA!" _Although he looks a lot more mature he hasn't changed at all. He's an adult yet he still acts like the same 13 year-old child I used to make so mad, _Sasuke thought. _After not being around him for so long it seems like it's a lot easier for him to get me mad. I never had to put up with any of this at Orochimaru's._

"Oh, she doesn't live here anymore," Naruto answered shortly.

_No stinkin' duh, you baka, _thought Sasuke.

"Neji told me that," Sasuke said, looking slightly disappointed at having receiving no new information yet.

"She lives in Suna now."

"Why?"

"She got married to some dude there, I don't remember who though," Naruto said, smiling that dumb, quirky smile at his old rival.

"You don't remember?" Sasuke asked, looking at him doubtfully.

"They eloped," Naruto said like he was answering the most obvious question to a 6 year-old.

"Oh," Sasuke said, disappointed. He began slurping his ramen quietly and thought everything over.

Naruto and Sasuke walked down the road toward Naruto's house. "You can stay at my house tonight if you want, Sasuke-teme. Hinata's out on a mission with Ino, so it's pretty empty, I could use the company." He walked the same way he had six years ago, hands behind his head and looking up at the sky, not paying any attention to where he was going. Though he had lived in Konoha long enough to know every street and building.

"Why are you and Hinata living together?"

"We got married, baka! I would've invited you to the wedding to be my best man, but you were out running around with Orochimaru," Naruto answered.

"Wow, a lot of people are getting married."

"Yeah, Temari and Shimarku, me and Hinata, Sakura and someone else, Neji and TenTen, Ino and Chouji, and Kakashi and Kurenai, too."

"KAKASHI GOT MARRIED!" Sasuke yelled, stopping in shock.

"Yeah, duh," Naruto said not stopping.

As Sasuke lied in the guest bed at Naruto's house, which was surprisingly big, thinking of Sakura. He wanted her to be laying in the bed next to him, cuddling up to his side so much. He missed the way she had always yelled his name when she arrived at training and then yelled at Naruto when he called her "Sakura-chan" or called him "Sasuke-teme." He rolled onto his side and remembered how she had always visited him in the hospital no matter how big or small the injury was, she always brought a daffodil. He closed his eyes and imaged her light pink hair that had gotten chopped off during the Chuunin Exams. He had preferred it short and was glad when she had continued to cut her hair, although he knew he never had shown this. He imaged her bright green eyes, piercing into his midnight black eyes, piercing into his very soul and thoughts. He pictured her smooth, creamy white skin and the rolling curves of her body. He had never told her how beautiful she was. He had never told her anything. He had never shown her any of his true feelings before. He regretted that more than anything in his life. He regretted not taking her with him when he had left, he regretted not staying with her, he regretted only saying "Thank you" on that last day, but most of all he regretted never telling her that he loved her. He had known he loved her since they were little kids in the Academy, he had known it the first time he saw her. So adorable with her red ribbon tied around her hair. He smiled at the thought and she had only gotten even more beautiful as time had gone on. He slowly began to drift towards the warmth of sleep with her image crying in the cold nighttime six years ago burned into his eyelids.

Short Ramblings! HOORAY!

This is my first fanfiction so be completely brutal. My sister (who's obsessed with Naruto) says it's good, so I decided to post it. I kinda like the Sasuke Sakura thing, but I started to think that he completely didn't deserve her after he left her like that, so I decided to torture him some for at least a chapter or two so I made it so she married someone else, but who would she want to marry! And why move to Suna! 'Cause we all know that that sand and sun can't be good for the skin! And WHY IS EVERYONE GETTING MARRIED SUDDENLY! Well, I just wanted Sasuke to feel left out and stuff because even Naruto and his sensei beat him to getting married! Well, I know this isn't exactly short rambling and probably the majority of people who actual read this FF didn't even read this. So yeah, I'll post again soon!

Beautiful Writing Girl

P.S. If you review this, please, if you have another idea for the title, then PLEASE suggest it! I had no clue what to title this! HELP!


	2. Chapter Two: Why'd You Come Back?

Chapter Two: Why Did You Come Back?

**Summary: **Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? He finds her and professes his love for her and…

**Disclaimer:** FINE! FINE! I'LL CONFESS! I DON'T OWN NARUTO! JUST STOP PLAYING BRITNEY SPEARS! FOR GOSH'S SAKE, MAKE THE CRAPPY MUSIC STOP! passes out from the slutty music

"SASUKE-TEME! WAKE UP!" As Sasuke drifted in and out of sleep he faintly heard Naruto yelling at him.

"Hnn…" He groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

"IF YOU DON'T WAKE UP NOW I WON'T GET HINATA AND INO TO MEET UP WITH YOU AND TELL YOU WHO SAKURA MARRIED!"

Sasuke sat straight up and glared at Naruto. "Your lucky you can do that or you'd be dead for waking me up," he said, getting up and starting to make the bed. (Author: Sasuke is DEFINITELY NOT a morning person in this FF at least)

"It's not my fault you were pampered at Orochimaru's," Naruto whispered under his breath.

"What?"

"Just saying there's towels in the bathroom if you want a shower, but you have to hurry and leave within an hour if you want to meet Hinata and Ino in the forest outside Konoha to find out where Sakura lives and who she lives **with**," Naruto stated, emphasizing the last word. Shoving Sasuke's face in the fact that she wasn't living with him.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," said Sasuke, walking unsteadily towards the bathroom.

In the shower Sasuke stared down at the floor, he closed his eyes, letting his tears mix with the water crawling from his hair down to his chin.

He came downstairs in time to almost be hit by a pancake. He watched it slide down the wall and looked over and saw Naruto trying unsuccessfully to flip another pancake in a skillet. He looked at the ceiling above Naruto and saw five or six pancakes glued to the ceiling. He sighed and sat at the table and started munching on some toast with plum jam on it.

"So where am I supposed to be meeting them?"

"On the Southeastern path about two miles down the road, to the right of the path they have camp set up but they won't set off until you get there."

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, amazed that he had remembered all of that. He shook off the surprise and stared down at the plate Naruto had just set in front of him, it consisted a yellow substance that ran into a black substance which turned a green shade in the middle and in the middle of the plate was a medium-sized pancake that was burned but still had batter coming out of the middle. Sasuke pushed the plate away and stood up.

"I think I'll just eat some toast on the walk out there," he said grabbing four pieces of toast, though they were questionable burned and stood in front of Naruto. "Thanks, Naruto," he said, looking at Naruto, who, with his night cap on, looked ridiculous, especially with his Kakashi-sensei PJs. They had chibi pictures of Kakashi, with his headband off his eye and his usually uncovered eye closed, revealing that he had sharigan in his other eye. He held up an Icha-Icha Paradise book and read it with his sharigan eye.

"For what, Sasuke?" He looked at his with an eyebrow raised and a ridiculous, confused expression on his face.

"For everything," Sasuke answer and walked out of the room and then out of the house. As he got out onto the street, he looked back at the house. "Good luck, Naruto. I hope you and Hinata continue to be very happy together. I always knew you two would end up together. Even though you were so clueless." He turned away and began to walk down the streets towards the grand entrance/exit to the village.

As he walked down the road his thought automatically gears towards its usual subject: Sakura. As he was completely lost in thought, he didn't notice the kunai flying towards the back of his head until seconds before it was supposed to hit him, just enough time for him to jump to a tree branch and look for the attacker.

"SASUKE! YOUR LATE!" Ino yelled, appearing in the middle of the path and pointing an accusing finger at him. "NOW COME DOWN HERE AND GIVE ME ONE OF THOSE FAMOUS GLARES FOR OLD TIMES' SAKE!" she finished laughing. She wore her signature purple outfit, although the skirt was longer and the bandages went past her knees. She still wore her hair in a pony tale, but with more hair on both sides lining her thin face. She was about a foot and a half taller than before. Hinata came out of the bushes behind Ino a minute later.

"I-Ino, why are you attacking, S-Sasuke-kun," she inquired, in her usual soft voice. She hadn't change in the sense that she was still so shy. She had grown her hair out and it was now down to her lower back, her bangs sweeping to one side covering her right eye. She had traded in the baggy shorts for a knee-length skirt, resembling Ino's but a light blue that matched her eyes. She wore a shirt that hugged her form better than the coat she had worn before, with a netted shirt underneath. The top shirt, which had a V-neck and had no sleeves and was a deep shade of plum, while the net shirt underneath covered all the way up to the base of her neck and was a ¾ sleeve and had a dull grey background behind the thin black lines.

Sasuke jumped down from the tree and took in both their new appearances. "You two look like you've been doing good," he finally said.

"Yeah, well. It was a lot easy around the village without you there," Ino said harshly. She turned and trudged off the way Hinata had come.

"I'm s-sorry about Ino, Sasuke-kun," Hinata said gingerly as she started to walk after Ino with Sasuke by her side. "S-she changed after you left the village. I don't think she'll ever f-forgive you for what you d-did to…. S-sakura…" she said hesitating before she said the name she knew he would dread to hear.

They got to their campsite a few minutes lately, walking the remainder of the way in a silence that was only uncomfortable for Hinata who tried to think of something she could say to Sasuke or to Ino to calm her down.

As they sat around the fire that Hinata and Ino were cooking breakfast on Ino was the first to break the silence.

"So what's your sudden interest in Sakura, Sasuke?" she pried, but in an answer she merely received a shrug and a sigh. This only made her more agitated. Sensing this Hinata cut in before Ino could think of anything to say.

"Y-you know she m-married right, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke just looked away from Hinata and Ino towards the forest. He had tried to forget that she had given up hope on him returning and fallen in love with someone else.

"She lives in Suna with him now," Ino said, even more bitter than before.

"I know," was his only reply. He ignored the fact that she was angry with him and most likely hated him. It was okay; it was payback for all those years of her bothering him.

"Do you know who she married?" Ino said, already knowing the answer.

Sasuke glared at her, knowing that she knew that was the only reason he was there. "You know I don't. So, are either of you going to tell me who the guy is? Since you both just came from visiting her I guess you two know," he said, jealousy for them knowing and him not and anger at them for living dripping from every word.

"Gaara.." Hinata said timidly.

"What?" Sasuke said, not knowing if she had really said anything or not.

"Gaara…" She said, a little louder, put still just a whisper.

"I can't understand you," Sasuke said, getting annoyed by her shyness.

"Gaara.." she said, trying her best to speak louder, even though she knew her answer would only make his mad.

"You have to talk louder!" Sasuke said, trying not to get mad since this was his best friend's wife.

"Gaara!" she shrieked at him, standing up. She blushed and quickly sat down, realizing what she had done and buried her face into her hands, wishing the stump she was sitting on would just swallow her whole.

"G-Gaara!" Sasuke repeated. Not wanting to believe that the woman he loved would actual marry that sand demon.

Ino got up and walked toward Hinata, handing her a drink of water. "Don't worry, you deserve an outburst or two like that every two weeks or at least once a year." She glared at Sasuke who had grown suspiciously silent.

"H-how could she marry….**him**…" he said angrily to himself. " Why didn't she wait for me?"

"Oh! Maybe because it took you SIX YEARS to realize that you loved her!" Ino said heatedly.

"Where do they live?" Sasuke asked, staring down at the ground.

"Well, let's see," Ino started sarcastically. " He's was the Kazekage's son, but the Kazekage was murdered before the main Chuunin Exam fights, I wonder where the new Kazekage would live," she finished, but when she turned to yell at him some more, he was gone. "NOW THAT'S JUST RUDE, SASUKE!"

But Sasuke was already too far away to hear her complaining; he was jumping from tree to tree as fast as he could. _Why couldn't she just wait for me like I thought she would? Why couldn't she just mourn over me leaving like I knew that the old her would? _He thought as he entered the desert. He ran over the dunes and dips of the desert sand, hardly looking where he was going. He had gone on a raid to Suna four years ago with Orochimaru so he knew where the city stood. But he hadn't seen inside the city, he only knew that Kankuro had killed Kabuto there. No one had known he'd been on the raid because he had stayed outside the city gates with Orochimaru, studying how to lead a raid on a village and where to send ninja to attack.

He arrived at the gates and looked for the guards on duty. "I need to see the Kazekage, it's urgent," he said, when he spotted them and was asked what he wanted. He was lead to the Kazekage's house and allowed into the front room. He sat on the couch and tried to keep a relaxed face.

He looked up when he heard someone coming down the stairs. He saw someone wrapped in a silk robe with sakura flowers neatly stitched onto a silvery white background. The bright sunlight that shone through the ceiling-to-floor window that covered half the wall on one side of the room, shown off her thigh-length, light pink hair. Her creamy hands fiddled with a small amount of hair that hung in front of her shoulder. She moved across the room with such grace that Sasuke imaged she was an angel lightly flying through the room. She easily could've past as one, Sasuke thought. He shook his head of those thoughts they were completely unlike him. But when he opened his eyes again, the girl was gone. His heart was racing and his face was pale. Had she just been a dream? One of the illusions that had haunted his sleep and day dreams from his first night away from her and Konoha and every day since then? Could she have just been a cruel prank pulled by his subconscious' sick sense of humor? No, she was too real. She was different from what he had imagined.

His thoughts were disrupted by a voice. "The Kazekage is ready for you now," said a servant. He was lead down a long corridor that was lined with so many doors Sasuke didn't bother counting past five. He was finally allowed in the very last door in the corridor. The servant announced to the Kazekage that he had a visitor and then left the room quickly. Sasuke bowed and stayed bowed until the Kazekage told him to stand and have a seat in one of the two red leather chairs in front of his desk.

The Kazekage still hadn't turned his chair around. Sasuke took this time to examine the room. It was nothing like the Hokage's office. There were no papers in sight and the desk was simple and clean. He had a pencil holder that held various pens, some trays for papers that were finished and papers that still needed signed or looked over, the wall behind the desk was covered with filing cabinets with neat labels on all of them, he had a framed picture hanging on the wall of him and Sakura. She was dressed in a beautiful, silk kimono with a flower weaved into the place above her heart. She wore a simple headdress with a veil that trailed down her back. They stood hand in hand looking into each other's eyes. Gaara wore black and grey robes. Sasuke could tell that they had kissed after the photograph was taken by the way they stood and the way they looked into each other's eyes. He would have thought it was a lovely picture for the memory of a wedding if it hadn't been for the fact he was in love with the bride.

"You came to request a mission?" Gaara's monotone voice finally cracked the silence.

"I came to talk to you, Kazekage-same, but not for a mission," Sasuke replied, keeping in mind that Gaara was now the Kazekage, whether he liked it or not.

Gaara turned the chair halfway around and glared at Sasuke through the corner of his eyes. He half smiled and stood up. "What is it, Uchiha? Come to steal my wife from me?" He asked coldly, almost daring Sasuke to try.

Just then Sakura came through the door, wearing a simple red kimono with sakura flowers embroidered on the bottom and on the chest above her heart. "Gaara-kun, I brought you some tea and some toast with honey on it," Sakura said cheerfully pushing the door open and carrying a tray with two glasses, a pot of tea, and a plate of toast as she had said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had a guest. I'll just leave, Gaara-kun." She stated apologetically.

"No, Sakura-chan. You're welcome to come in, I think you would be pleased to talk to this guest," Gaara said soothingly.

"O-okay," Sakura said, slightly confused. She continued into the room, setting the tray onto the Kazekage's desk. She glanced up at the visitor and stopped in surprise, almost dropping the pot she was using to pour tea into the two empty glasses.

End of Chapter 2: Why Did You Come Back?

Short Ramblings! NOT AGAIN!

AAAAHHHH! I thought I was gonna die before I finished this chapter! I stayed up ALL night, switching between cleaning out house, searching for food, talking with my sister, and writing this thing. Most of the writers on here are right, it is better to write during the night. It helps you think, I guess. But it's some weird thing, I just put my hands on the keyboard and ……… now the sleep deprivation is getting to me! Chapter 3 coming soon, I hope. PLEASE give me feedback on whether you guys (and girls) really like this story or not! My sister says it's still really good (although she had to throw in that Sasuke a little OC every now and then) but she might be biased.

**REVIEWS PLEASE! SO I KNOW IF MY SISTER IS RIGHT OR NOT! AND SO I CAN GET IT SO SHE'S NOT THE ONLY READING MY STORIES!**


	3. Chapter Three: I Love You, I Don't

Chapter Three: "I Love You" "I Don't"

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

**Disclaimer: **What again! Man, I'm running out of funny jokes for this thing, oh forget it. I DON'T OWN NARUTO! Wish I did though. Then Sasuke would REALLY pay.

Gaara took his place in his chair and carefully watched Sakura and Sasuke. "Would you like some tea, sir?" she calmly asked Sasuke. He nodded solemnly, knowing that Gaara was enjoying every second of this, but he continued to stare down at his lap. Sakura walked over, handing him his tea. As she did this she gave Sasuke the coldest glare she could conjure up. He merely looked into her eyes and breathed in her smell, happy that he knew she wasn't an illusion.

"Thank you," he said, taking the tea and bowing his head.

Gaara had always secretly hoped that Sasuke would turn so he could show Sakura how much he really did love her by killing Sasuke. He knew the story of that night six years ago well, almost like he had been there watching it all happen.

Gaara remembered how he had gone on vacation to Konoha and heard about how Sasuke had left to join Orochimaru. He didn't know what, but something had drawn him to Sakura's house. He had comforted her in her time of despair and over the years they had grown to love each other, his first true love. Perhaps hers' too. He had always been happy with her, especially on the day of their wedding, he had waited eight long months for it. He proposed to her in the middle of the desert, where they had been completely alone. He had set up candles surrounding them and had a picnic with all her favorite foods that he had cooked himself. At dusk when the set was halfway above and below the horizon he proposed to her. Temari had helped him pick out the ring, or rather; she had taken his money and bought the ring by herself without Gaara knowing anything about it.

He remembered the exact words he'd said to he:

Sakura, you're the first person I've ever loved, and the last person I'll ever love. I never thought that I feel like this around someone, I've wanted you to be by my side since the first minute I met you. I never wanted to say anything because I knew you wouldn't accept my feelings, but now I know that you love me and I know that I want to be with you forever. I want to make you happy and protect you no matter what happens. I'll love you till the end of time, whether that's tomorrow or twenty billion years from now. I hope you'll accept this ring along with my feelings towards you. I know I can't compare to your imagine of a perfect man, but I hope I'm close enough. Please, tell me you love me and that you'll marry me.

That's when he had opened the ring case and looked into her eyes longingly. He had meant every word of that speech he'd been preparing for the past three months. He knew it didn't sound perfect when it came out like he had hope, but from the way she had cried and told him that she loved him he knew that it had been her form of perfect. He looked over at his wife who, he could see, was ever so slightly shaking. He got up and walked behind her. He slid his arms around he stomach and rested his chin on her shoulders.

"It's ok, my little Sakura blossom," he whispered into her ear soothingly. "I won't let him hurt you again. I'll protect you and make sure you're happy just like I promised when I proposed to you." He finished and knew that would calm her down. "So, Sasuke," he said louder so Sasuke could hear him, although he already knew that he had heard what he whispered into his wife's ear. "What have you come to Suna for?"

"Oh, just to visit an old friend," Sasuke replied, staring at Gaara. He was trying to ignore Sakura, but it was hard to. He loved her more than ever now that he had seen her again. He didn't care if she hated him or that she was married to Gaara, one of the most powerful men of all the countries.

Gaara walked around Sakura, but looked back at her and smiled sweetly, something he didn't do often and only did for her, and usually in private. He knew that would always make her happy, because she always smiled back sincerely. And this time was no different; she couldn't help but know that that was her special smile, the smile he only showed her. Only when he was truly happy or didn't want her sad did he show her that smile. Right now was the latter.

"I'll leave if you want, Gaara-kun," she suggested because she knew something bad would happen. "I can get you something if you would like."

"I'm fine, Sakura-chan," he said. "But you can leave if you like." He knew she was uncomfortable and wanted to give her the option to leave.

"That's ok, but can I sit down in your chair?" she inquired innocently, she always got what she wanted from Gaara, she always had a way of persuading him to do as she liked. Although he never spoiled her by buying her things, but if she really wanted something she would try and get it on her own then if she absolutely had to she would ask him to help. She had become one of the top ten most skilled medicnin because he had hired the best medicnins in the countries to help her with her training. Although he knew she had done all the hard work, he liked the fact that he had helped a little.

"Okay, little blossom," Gaara caved in as easily as he always did, he couldn't stand to say no to her because he couldn't stand to see her upset or sad like he had been when he was little, like she had been when he had visited her six years ago.

"Sakura…" Sasuke quietly whispered to himself as he drank his tea.

Gaara turned to look at Sasuke as Sakura sat down at his chair and looked at the photograph of him as a child, she always stole this picture from his office and would look at it for hours. He was so adorable as a child. But he always got mad at her when she took it so she didn't do it as often as she used to. She ran her fingers along the frame and stared at the sad child in the picture. She couldn't imagine the Gaara she knew now like this. She didn't want to imagine him like that. He had told her everything about his children, he had opened his past and his heart to her and she had done the same to him. Although she hadn't had much of a past aside from Sasuke and Team 7, he had still listened all the same.

"Sasuke, what do you want?" Sakura heard Gaara repeat to Sasuke. She looked over at Sasuke and saw that he was staring down at his tea, which he held in his hands on his lap.

"I always told you, I'm here to visit an old friend," this time when he said it, he looked up at Sakura. His eyes were lined with the same sadness that filled the child's in the picture's eyes. This was the first time he had ever looked at her like that, yet all she could feel towards him was anger. She hated him for leaving her on that bench, she hated him for thinking that he could march down here and rip her away from everything and everyone she loved, but mostly she hated him because Orochimaru hadn't killed him. She wanted him away from her, away from Gaara, away from everything. She wouldn't let him control her life like he had when they were children. She didn't want that and she was disgusted by the thought of it.

"I don't want you here…" Sakura said slowly.

Gaara turned to look at her and Sasuke looked up at her. Gaara looked coolly towards Sasuke. "You heard her, leave," he said shortly.

"No, Gaara-kun. I want to talk to Sasuke privately for a few minutes, please?" she smiled at his inquiring look.

He sighed and glared at Sasuke. "Fine," he said shortly and left the room in a tornado of sand.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, trying to see who would break if first and how Sasuke finally won.

"Sakura…" he got up from his seat and set his tea glass which was still half full on the desk. "I missed you so much."

"SASUKE SHUT UP, YOU BAKA!" Sakura screamed slamming her fists into the desk and standing up. "DON'T SAY THINGS YOU DON'T MEAN!"

Sasuke stepped back in surprise, but fell back into his chair once his knee hit the seat. "S-sakura…" he repeated, stunned.

"I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE! I'M MARRIED TO GAARA AND I LOVE HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING! SO JUST LEAVE!" she finished and disappeared from the room.

Gaara laughed and reappeared into the room. "I guess you visited your friend, hm?" He said looking over at Sasuke. "So leave. Now." He turned to his desk and was surprised to find dent marks in it. "I guess you made her mad. But not as mad as I'll be if you even think of showing up near her or this town again." He glared at Sasuke who glared right back.

"Fine, I'll get her back another way. Since the direct approach didn't work," he said smiling. As he left the room he said, "You better start watching her closer, **Gaara** or you'll lose her like I did." And with that Sasuke disappeared, leaving Gaara alone.

Gaara sighed. "You'll never learn, Uchiha."

Short Ramblings! AGAIN! YAY! …………NOT!

Hey everyone that's stayed loyal and kept reading this trash for another chapter. I know Gaara is COMPLETELY OC, but he's found love now, meaning that Shukaku (someone, please, tell me if I spelled that wrong!) is pretty much gone (though still within him) and I just haven't really figured out Gaara's personality in the first place so I'm pretty much just….. doing what I want which is what FF's are about right? Right!

**OH FORGET THE BOLD, EMERGENCY NOTICE THIS TIME! I JUST NEED HELP WITH GAARA'S PERSONALITY! AAARRRGGGHHHHH! And I need sleep but that can wait another week or two.**


	4. Chapter Four: What Love and Hate Can Do

Chapter Four: What Love and Hate Can Do

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

**Disclaimer: **THESE THINGS ARE SO ANNOYING! I'll have to come up with a gag for this soon or I'll just stop doing them and get sued! Well, I don't own Naruto or any of the characters. Just the storyline here. OH YEAH, THAT'S ALL ME BABY!

Oh yeah, special special thanks to Songstress of Victory and fallen.lunar who have been reviewing and helping me out bunches! This chapter and any ones folowing probably wouldn't be up if it wasn't for them!

THANK YOU!

**Alert:** The following chapters probably won't be up as fast as the previous two, I leave on a family vacation on the 16th and don't get back for a week, then I have a TON of stuff to do to get ready for the first day of high school. So PLEASE forgive me if I don't get the whole story completely finished, although it will be a long story anyway. Right now I'm just writing as things pop into my head with no real storyline set up, so I'm not sure exactly how long it will be. But I'm guessing over ten chapters. I'll keep writing, so don't worry.

**STORY TIME:**

* * *

Gaara wasn't on the roof of his home that night, he wasn't in his office finishing some paperwork that wouldn't need to be done for weeks, and he wasn't sitting at the entrance to his village. He wasn't in any of his usual places, but he was sitting next to Sakura bed. He very really watched her while she slept because she knew she wouldn't like him watching over her so closely. But tonight was a night where he wanted to watch her as she lay quietly in bed. Sometimes he would push hair out of her face or pull her covers up tighter so she wouldn't get cold in the desert nights. Tonight was different from any other time. She was thrashing about and mumbling in her sleep. 

"Sasuke, no… don't, please," she said and hit the side of the bed with her fist. "Please… no… not that!" she screamed kicking and struggling against a dream.

Gaara wanted to wake her up, but he wanted to see where all this was going. "Why is she dreaming about Sasuke?" he asked himself quietly. "And what's he doing that's so horrible?"

As Sasuke walked through the town, heading back to his hotel, he looked towards the moon and then to the Kazekage's home. His mind reverted to Sakura and how she looked now. He remembered how her hair was swept up into a messy bun with golden chopsticks through it, supporting it. No doubt that those had been a present from Gaaaaaraaa! He thought angrily.

He kicked a rock, which hit the side of the Kazekage's house. He looked up at the highest window and noticed a red blob in the window. Sasuke quickly looked around and, it being three in the morning, there was no one around. He used chakra control in his hands and feet to crawl up the side of the building, staying as close to it as he could.

As he looked into the window he saw Gaara-sama sitting next to Sakura's bed. He looked over at Sakura and noticed she was rolling around restlessly. He saw Gaara get up and leave the room, closing and locking the door behind him. Sasuke quickly decided to pay Sakura a visit. He slowly opened the window and crept in, leaving it open in case he needed to jump out. He moved into the chair where Gaara had been sitting and looked down at Sakura. He gentle swept the hair from her eyes and ran his finger down her cheek onto her lips and touched her lower lip gingerly.

"Hnn… Sasuke, no, please… STOP! AAHHH! NO!" Sakura screamed and shrieked, thrashing around. She finally sat up straight and looked over at Sasuke who had gotten up so fast he knocked over the chair and was backing away towards the open window. "Sa-Sasuke… no, please. Don't leave me again," she said sleepily. Her eyes were clouded over and she was still asleep. She reached out towards him, her eyes watering. "I promise… I'll… I'll make you… h-happy, I promise. I-I lo… love yo..u," she finished falling back to her soft pillows.

Sasuke sighed in relief and sat back down. He prayed no one had heard her screams. He placed his hand on hers and stroked it with his thumb.

"Sakura… I love you so much…" He said simply, repeating the words she had told him years ago. "I want you back so badly. I'll do anything just to see you happy… with me," he said miserably. He became so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the door open.

"She's beautiful when she's asleep, hm?" asked a voice that made Sasuke jump from his chair onto the ceiling and pull out a kunai.

"Gaara…" Sasuke said smugly. Gaara gently wiped Sakura's forehead with a wet clothes and ran the tips of his fingers smoothly through her bangs.

"She doesn't love you anymore, Uchiha, so give up."

"No! She loves me… I know it. Why else would she be dreaming about me?"

"She screamed and told you to stop, I might not sleep, but I know what a nightmare sounds like." Gaara looked up at Sasuke with one of his famous icy stares.

Sasuke merely ignored his look and looked down at Sakura. "She wouldn't forget about me. Not like this," he stated, mostly trying to convince himself that this was a fact.

"Yes, she would, for the past four and a half years she has. And she's been happy with me. Without you," Gaara said as he moved towards the desk to the side of the large room. He picked up a framed photograph that was on the beautiful woodwork. He threw it towards Sasuke who caught it and looked at it.

The picture was Gaara and Sakura together again. Gaara was sitting under a tree with his hands behind his head and his back against his tree, the giant gourd he usually carried set aside by the tree, between his outstretched legs, cuddled up to him in a little ball with her chin rested on her knees and her head leaning against Gaara's chest was Sakura. She had her eyes closed and she would have looked asleep, except for the beautiful smile painted across her face. It was a smile that Sasuke had never seen before. It was a smile that he had never deserved. It was a smile that he knew he would never deserve from her. There was nothing he could do for her anymore. But he wouldn't accept defeat so easily.

He hated Gaara.

He hated Gaara for taking Sakura away from him, for doing everything for her that he had never done before and probably could never do for her, for giving her everything she needed and wanted… for loving her.

A sharp pain shot through his heart and he clutched the spot on his chest above his heart. He lost his chakra control and fell to the floor next to the chair he had sat in. He lay there on the floor, clutching his chest.

"Aww, does little Sasuke have a wound of the heart?" Gaara said, suddenly standing over Sasuke with the picture Sasuke had dropped during his fall in his hands. Gaara looked at it and smiled a half smile. "She changed me, Sasuke. I don't have to fight for myself anymore and I don't have to love only myself. She taught me what real love is, she showed me what it is and she always does, everyday we're together. And everyday she's with me we grow to love each other more and more. You won't get her back, Uchiha, I'll make sure of it." And with that sand started to slowly and quietly creep up Sasuke's legs and arms. "I promise it won't be painful, Uchiha. After all you're one of the reasons I fought Naruto and found Sakura. Thanks," Gaara said shortly, smiling like he was crazy.

Sasuke couldn't move from the pain in his chest and the sand was almost covered his face. He couldn't do anything but wait for it to be over… hopefully painlessly like the Sand Demon had promised.

"STOP IT!"

Both of the men looked at the where the scream had come from. Sakura was kneeling on her bed and looking at both of them. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears that would spill over any second. "STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" she yelled once more. She looked down at both of them. "I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" she screamed as she ran out of the room covering her ears and her eyes closed tight. She left a trail of teardrops on the ground after her.

Gaara released Sasuke from his sand coffin and ran after Sakura. Sasuke ignored the pain in his chest and ran after her too. But both of them couldn't find her anywhere.

"This is your fault, you know," Sasuke said, walking away.

The next morning Sasuke went to the nearest market to get groceries. He kept an eye out for Sakura-chan or Kazekage-sama although he didn't have much hope of seeing them.

_Why would they be here anyway? They probably have people to buy their groceries for them, like a chef or something,_ Sasuke thought, kicking a rock. He turned into the market, he knew he had to buy a lot of food, he didn't know how long it would take for Sakura to come back to him and he didn't really want to come here again. It would look suspicious if I came more than once, he decided quickly. He walked around, looking at the different foods and picking carefully. He somehow ended up in the flower aisle and he found himself staring at the large array of colors and shapes. His eye was caught by a bunch of white and light pink blossoms. He took a few, five or six, just to have. He felt their silky petals and remembered the feel of Sakura's skin when he had laid her on that bench. It was smooth and creamy white in the moonlight.

He moved to the checkout line and quickly escaped from the store. He walked around the small charts, only stopping to buy some plush toys of the Kazekage and his wife holding hands. He decided that he'd cut the red string that held their hands together and keep the Sakura doll. He might use the Gaara doll for kunai practice later.

He was staring down at the Sakura doll, letting the Gaara doll hang pitifully from his hand. The only this keeping if from plummeting to the ground was the thin, annoying red string. He was so entranced by the doll that he didn't notice when he bumped into someone, knocking them down. He was about to mutter how stupid the person was when he heard a familiar voice.

"Are you ok?" Sakura said helping the teenage girl from the ground. Her friends flocked around Sakura and the girl, asking their friend if she was ok and yelling remarks at Sasuke. But he didn't notice any of them, only Sakura. The dolls now lay in the dirt and Sakura picked them up. She was about to hand them to Sasuke when she finally looked at him.

"Oh, it's you," she said coldly. Placing the dolls in one of the bags he was carrying. Sasuke just continued to stare at her, taking in her every detail to dream about or think about.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbled to the girl and to Sakura, staring at the ground.

"You better be!" shouted one of the girl's friends as they flocked off.

"He was kind of cute, Ami-chan," he heard one of them say.

"No way, he's too pale," said another.

"They're right you know," Sakura said after a moment.

"Huh?"

"You are kind of pale, you should get out more," she said, trying desperately to think of a way to leave.

"Sakura…"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry…"

"For what? Barging into my house and my room, fighting with my husband, waking me up, coming back after six years and expecting me to have waited for you like some sad school girl, getting mad because I didn't, or all of the above?" she said angrily.

"The last one," he said, still staring at the ground, after some silence. "I just… thought you would wait. You loved me so much, Sakura."

**Sakura's POV:**

_Why'd you have to come back, Sasuke?_ I thought as he said my name again. _I can't stand you anymore. I hate you so much, more than I loved you back then. Before you ruined everything, before true love found me in the darkness you left me crying in. Gaara saved me though, Sasuke. He saved me and that's something you won't and could never do. You always watched me suffer, ran away, or let someone else handle it. I hate you, Uchiha Sasuke. I have every right to._

**Normal POV:**

"I hate you, Uchiha Sasuke," she said, letting the words tumble out of her mouth calmly.

"Wha-?" was all Sasuke could manage to say. He looked up at her in shock at what had escaped her lips.

"You abandoned me and left me in to cry in that horrible darkness for so long. Gaara was the only light that ever came. Naruto tried, but I just cast him out. Kakashi did his best, but he only made it hurt worse. It was like a wound that could never heal and every time someone talked about me when I sat at that bench and about how the ninja had found me there the morning after you left it got deeper and deeper. Gaara finally healed it, though.

Sasuke turned and left, he didn't need to hear more about Gaara. He had had enough of him and wanted to put a stop to him. No, he **had** to put a stop to him.

Tonight.

**Short Ramblings! Hazooooooh!**

**Hey everyone who thinks this FF is interesting for some reason. HORRAY FOR OC-NESS! I know that Sasuke is horribly OC, but he's had to live SIX YEARS without his only love. And now he sees her with his rival? How would you feel? Yeah, that's what I thought! I doubt he'll get any better, and if anyone even says ANYTHING about it I'll make him wear…. PINK! I swear I'll do it, you know I will… possibly. Anyway, I gotta go, bye! Hopefully Chapter 5 will be done soon.**


	5. Chapter Five: Why?

Chapter Five: Why…?

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

**Disclaimer: **Oh my, gosh. I **_DON'T_** own Naruto, get over it people! I've said it four times already, JEEZ!

* * *

As Sasuke sat in hishotel roomhe thought of how he could kill Gaara tonight. He had to do something and he had to do it in front of Sakura, so she could see how much he loved her. He had to. Then it struck him and wrote down all the details on a pad of paper.

At two in the morning he stopped outside the Kazekage's house. He stopped under the window he had broken into the previous night. It felt like that night was a distant and blurred memory from long ago. He climbed the wall again with ropes hanging from his shoulder. He looked in the corner of the window and saw that Gaara wasn't in the room this time. Just to be safe he concentrated and tried to sense his chakra. All he could sense was Sakura though. He slid into the window and looked around carefully. He wondered where Gaara was but continued to advance toward Sakura slowly and carefully.

Gaara walked down the paths that lead around the perimeter of Suna. He was looking at the ground with his arms crossed. He was thinking of Sakura, as usual when he wasn't with her. He wanted to know why she had been having a nightmare about Sasuke. She had told him everything that had happened six years ago when he had first been with her and so many times over the years. She might have been dreaming of the night he left her, but she wouldn't have hit anything back then.

"What did he do to you, my little cherry blossom? What did he do to you that I can't fix, that I can't make go away?" he asked and he stopped and looked at the moon. He hadn't felt this lonely since he had been a child, the night his own uncle had tried to kill him and he had engraved "Love" into his forehead. He massaged the red sign on his forehead with his fingers. He had never known the meaning of it, not until her. Not until the day he had had her. The pain in his chest had gone with the first time he had said, "I think I'm in love with you,' to her. He remembered the day clearly.

_Flashback_

_Much younger versions of Gaara and Sakura were walking down the streets of Konoha, hand in hand. They had been hanging out more and more lately and it was only natural for them to touch each other in this way. She had even kissed him on the cheek twice before and he had been left speechless. Gaara lead Sakura, who hadn't been paying attention to where they were going to a clear space in the woods where cells trained. She had been talking about how Ino and Chouji had been caught kissing by Hinata and Naruto at a restaurant and how they were the strangest couple she could think up. She stopped in mid sentence when she realized where they were._

_"Why are we here, Gaara-kun?" she asked innocently, looking up at him._

_"Oh, I just felt like coming here," he lied, but she seemed to except the answer and ran over to a rock and sat down, breaking their connected hands. Gaara followed her slowly and sat down next to her. He looked down at the ground and concentrated on a spot as though it were the most interesting thing in the universe._

_"Is something wrong?" Sakura questioned. She had surprised Gaara and he looked at her as though he were about to ask why she was sitting next to him._

_"Oh… I was just thinking," he said and continued to look at the ground._

_After a few minutes of silence Sakura turned to look at him. "Is there something you're trying to tell me?" she asked, almost reading his mind._

_"I… h-how'd you know?" he said, looking surprised at her._

_"Oh, I woman can always tell," she said, smiling slyly. "So, what is it?"_

_"Umm…" started Gaara, not sure how to say it._

_"Well?" she said expectantly, she already had an idea to what he was going to say, but she still wanted to hear him say it. Just as she was thinking that Gaara got up and looked around uneasily._

_"Why don't we go back to town? It's starting to get dark and I'm sure you're tired," he looked around at her._

_She looked up at the sun, which was almost directly above them and determined that it was about noon. She looked at the back of his head with doubt written all over her face. "Just tell me, pleeeeeeeease?" she begged, getting up and looking at him with sad eyes._

_"I-I, uh…" he said nervously, trying hard to resist her face._

_"Please, Gaara-_kun_," accenting the last part, knowing the term of endearment would help her get her way._

_"I think I'm in love with you," he said, his head down and mumbling._

_"Did you say something, Gaara-kun?"_

_Gaara looked up at her and held her hand to his heart. "You're the only who has ever known I have a heart even without having to feel the pulse. I owe you so much for that. You opened your heart to me and I want to do the same for you. Sakura… I think I'm in love with you," he said gently as she felt his heartbeat increase as the seconds passed._

_"Gaara-kun…" she whispered. She hugged him tightly around his torso and smiled._

_"I love you, too," she said. She barely whispered, like a secret she wanted to keep between just the two of them. Gaara wrapped his arms around her. After awhile he tipped her chin up and kissed her deeply. It was his first kiss and he hoped it was hers. He wanted it to last forever, but he broke it of after a few minutes. He looked down at Sakura and noticed the tears running down her cheeks._

_"Are you ok?" he asked, worried if he shouldn't have kissed her or said anything in the first place. "I'm sorry," he said, hoping it would help._

_"No, don't apologize. I'm just happy, I final know that there's a place to put my love. I don't need to wait for Sasuke anymore. I don't love him anymore, Gaara. Thank you," she said, smiling and hugging him tighter. She buried her face into his chest and continued to cry. They stood there, holding each other until the sun started setting and Sakura fell asleep, exhausted from crying so much. Gaara carried her back to her house and laid her in her bed. That was the first time he had watched her sleep and cooked her breakfast._

_End Flashback_

He wanted to go back to that time and keep holding her, to keep kissing her, and to keep her safe. Safe from Sasuke, from everything, and everyone else. He didn't want her to get hurt like Sasuke had hurt her that night six years ago. He knew he couldn't protect her forever, but he had to at least try, for her sake. He continued walking around Suna, thinking about her. About every moment they had been together, every moment he could remember. If you had walked out on that path the next day, you would have seen hundred of foot prints, close to a thousand and small specks of water. You would probably have simply thought that however had been walking was training during the night and had been sweating… a lot.

Sasuke was standing next to Sakura as she slept. He had to be careful, or she would wake up and ruin everything. He quickly covered her mouth firmly, but she didn't wake up. He put duct tape over her mouth as carefully as he could. This was when her eyes opened weakly. She looked sadly up at him, her eyes half open. He could've thrown up right there. That look hurt his stomach like Tsunade punching him in the gut. He swallowed hard, trying to swallow the lump in his throat, but he knew he had to do this, no matter what happened. He needed her, he was sure that he needed her more than that baka Gaara. She continued to stare at him, but he stared to notice that she hadn't moved. _She must still be asleep_, he thought. _I hope so_. He tied her legs together and her hands in front of her. He picked her up and moved towards the window. He looked down at her; her eyes were still fixed on him, misery shined through to her soul. His stomach ached, but he ignored it and jumped out the window.

As Sasuke tied Sakura to a rock in the desert about ten miles outside of Suna he remembered the noted he had left Gaara, hoping he would come for her.

_Gaara,_

_Prove you love Sakura, prove it by nightfall or I'll take her away from here, farther away than you'll be able to find. She'll forget you and continue to love me, more than she ever said she loved you. I'll make sure. We're ten miles south of Suna. I want to see who is braver, you or me. No one will interupt us and I'll make sure Sakura can't hear any of our coversation. Come if you're not a coward, but then if you don't I guess everyone will end up happy._

_Uchiha Sasuke_

He knew Gaara would show up, especially after he called him a coward. He was hoping he would, he wanted to kill him more than anything. He had killed Itachi two or three years ago, he couldn't even remember when. And after that his whole life was empty, exactly like Kakashi-sensei had told him it would be. So he had turned his attention to Sakura, who he had always thought of.

Just then he saw Sakura wake up and wrestle against the rock, which he was sitting on top of. She looked around wildly, trying to find someone to help her. _So she had been asleep earlier, _he thought. _I better hurry and settle her down before she does something dangerous or hurts herself. _He jumped down in front of her and kneels there. She looked at him, shocked.

"MMHHHFFFMMM!" she yelled from under the duct tape. Sasuke took it off as gently as he could. "OW! YOU BAKA! WHAT AM I DOING HERE AND WHAT'S GOING ON?" she shrieked, struggling even more. Sasuke merely looked at her, she was angry with him…

"I'm sorry," he said, feeling his heart grow heavier. She stopped struggling and looked at him.

"Sasuke, what the heck is going on here?" she said, softer this time. "Why are you doing this?" she inquired, staring at him with concern.

"I… I missed you," he answered. Sakura just continued to stare at him.

"Whatever," she said, jerking her head to the side and closing her eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed as if she were contemplating on whether to say something or not. "Then why'd you leave me if you knew you would miss me so much?" she said finally, very softly. But her only answer was a shrug and grunt as he stood up and turned so his back was to her.

"I wanted to remove all the obstacles in my way," he said after an eternity of silence drenching the air between them. "I wanted to get rid of everything else that had held my attention away from you, so then when I came back I could give you all my love and attention," he finished.

"…I don't need you anymore, Sasuke," she said, as if knowing that was the one thing she could have said to completely destroy him. "I don't love you anymore, I have Gaara. Even if whatever plan you have works, I'll just run away and go ba-"

"NO!" he yelled, clenching his fists by his side, "He doesn't deserve you. He can't love you as much as I do. He just can't!"

Sakura looked at him with a worried expression. "Sasuke, there has to be someone else for you, because I'm not the one you're supposed to be with. This is a hallow battle that will only end in trouble."

"I…l-" he started, but was interrupted when he saw a figure walking calmly towards them. It was sunrise and Sasuke started to advance toward the figure. He knew very well it was…

"Gaara," he said when he was within a hundred feet of him. Gaara looked just behind Sasuke and saw Sakura. Sasuke had replaced the duct tape on her mouth, even though he knew that she wouldn't say anything to interfere.

"So, we're supposed to fight to the death to prove who deserve her? Is that it, genius?" Gaara said, smirking. "Sasuke, we both know what the outcome of this fight will be. You're completely surrounded by sand and as I've told you, I have someone to fight for now. I finally understand what everyone was talking about all those years ago. The pain in my chest isn't slowing me down anymore and I don't even need the gourd on my back when I'm in Suna."

Sasuke just kept staring at him. "I don't want to fight you, I just had a few questions for you, Gaara-sama."

**Short Ramblings!**

Another chapter, Yay! I'm trying to leave each chapter with a cliff hanger or something, but this one didn't really work out like I wanted it to. I felt bad about not updating for a week, so I decided to put two chapters up today! YAY FOR GUILT!


	6. Chapter Six: Do You Really Love Her?

Chapter Six: Who Does She Love?

Who Loves Her?

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

A/N: I d-

Sakura: HELLO STILL TIED TO A ROCK HERE!

Sasuke: who said that?

Gaara: who cares?

A/N: as I was saying, I don-

Sakura: SHUT UP AND GET ON WITH THE STORY, I HAVE AN ITCH!  
Sasuke: Gaara, I have a question.

Gaara: Yeah?

Sasuke: why are we here when the author doesn't even own Naruto or us?

Gaara: cause I'm finally married to Sakura and your not and I'm Kazekage and you're not.

Sasuke: oh yeah… HEY!

A/N: SHUT UP! I DON'T OWN NARUTO, JEEZ STOP HASSALING ME SAKURA!

Gaara and Sasuke continued to stare at each other. Gaara stood in his usual position, arms crossed and legs slightly apart, leaning to one side. Sasuke stood with his arms by his side, back to Sakura and glaring at Gaara.

"My first question," Sasuke started about ten minutes of silence. The sun was well above the horizon now and the temperature was rising. "Do you really love Sakura?"

"Yes. She's the first person I've ever loved. I've opened my heart and soul to her and she's settled in quite well," Gaara answered, smirking.

"Do you think she loves you?" was Sasuke's next question.

"Yes, she was the one who asked me out in the first place and she's never been unhappy with me," Gaara replied, the smirk grew slightly.

"Does she show it?"

"Yes, everyday we're together and it grows even more when we're apart."

"How do you know you're the only one she loves?"

"Because… she said I was her first and only _true _love," Gaara answered.

"Do you make her happy?"

"Yes."

"Does she make you happy?"

"Of course."

"Did you ask her to leave Konoha or was that her decision?"

"I had planned on us leaving both Konoha and Suna and moving to where no one would find us except who we wanted. But she wanted me to become Kazekage because she felt I was the only one responsible enough for it. And I would never argue with her."

Sasuke stood, staring at the ground about twenty feet from him intently. "Do you ever think she'd leave you for someone else?"

Gaara knew he meant himself when he said "someone else."

"No. She wouldn't do that to me, not without a reason. Not without saying good-bye," Gaara said, shaking his head. "She doesn't love you Sasuke, ask her yourself. Just give up."

"She… she still loves me… I know she does," Sasuke said shakily, looking over his shoulder at Sakura. She was looking up at the sky, because they were too far away from her for her to hear any of what they were talking about. He was glad she couldn't, she would have really preferred Gaara right now, the way he was answering.

"Now I've got some questions for you," Gaara said, breaking through Sasuke's thoughts.

"What?" Sasuke said rudely, looking back over at Gaara.

"Why'd you make Sakura wait so long? Why couldn't you accept her love six years ago? Then you wouldn't be in this situation and we wouldn't have to put Sakura through this. It's really quite selfish of you," Gaara said, looking past him to her.

"Because… I wanted… I wanted to remove all the obstacles in front of me, so I could give her every ounce of my attention, affection, and love. I couldn't live with myself if I had told her about my love and then left her because I couldn't think of anything else but revenge."

"Do you think she loves you?"

"Yes…" Sasuke said, but he knew the real answer in the back of his mind. He wasn't ready to accept that though. He looked back up at Gaara after he had heard a snort chuckle.

"Do you really think you'll leave with her? Do you really think you'll accomplish anything from kidnapping her, aside from being locked up in jail?"

"I… I just wanted… I wanted to have her to myself. Even if it was just a few minutes. To talk to her and see how she's been the past six years. Maybe rekindle the love she once had for me."

Gaara just stared at the pitiful form of the once powerful Sasuke he had actual begun to respect all those years ago. Until he had learned of how he had destroyed Sakura and how he had been such a coward to let Orochimaru control him and leave everything he knew and loved behind him. He smirked even bigger.

"You're pitiful, Uchiha. You were supposed to be so powerful. Killing your own brother and being one of the only ones to survive that curse seal." Gaara started walking toward Sakura. But as he walked past Sasuke he stopped.

"One last question, do you really love her or did you ever in the first place? Don't answer now just think about it. And when you come up with the answer, be sure to use the front door during the daylight this time. I'm sending Sakura back to Konoha to visit her friends and old classmates for the next week. She deserves a break from everything after seeing your ugly face. She's been missing her friends latterly so I figured I would let her go for a change. Make sure you come by sometime during the next week, ok?"

Gaara continued walking and kneeled by Sakura, who hadn't seen him coming because she was tied so he could see her profile and she had been concentrating on something to her right, looking away from Gaara and Sasuke. He whispered something into her ear and she had looked over at him. Her eyes were half shut and sad, just like they had been the previous night when Sasuke had kidnapped her. Gaara hugged her and held her tightly for a few minutes.

By the time he had untied her and allowed her to gently peel the tape off her mouth herself Sasuke was long gone. Gaara picked her up bridal style and carried her home. She fell asleep in his arms halfway home, mumbling an apology. He lay her down in bed and sat in a chair next to her bed.

"Sakura…" he whispered, gently stroking her cheek as she slept peacefully for the first time since Sasuke had come. "Do you still love me?" And with that he was gone from the room in a swirl of sand. He appeared on the roof staring out upon Suna. He always sat up there when he needed to think, and tonight he needed to.

The next day Gaara woke Sakura up early and told her to start packing and that she was going to spend some time in Konoha with her friends.

"But Ino and Hinata just left from visiting here. Are you sure you want me to leave?" she asking, looking up at Gaara with concern. She held his hand in hers' and stood close to him. "I'm not going to leave you Gaara, not for anybody," she said, staring into his eyes and kissing him deeply on the lips.

After they had broken apart he looked down at her plainly. "I want you to see all your friends, that's all. You have seen Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Shino, or TenTen lately and I'm sure you miss them. So make sure to pack a lot of clothes and I'll make sure you can stay with Ino-san for a week. Don't worry about me, I'll be able to feed and take care of myself for a week. It's not like you'll be gone forever," he said smiling slightly. Sakura looked over at something on the wall, contemplating whether it was really safe to leave Gaara alone for a whole week. As if reading her mind Gaara soothingly whispered into her ear, "Don't worry, my little cherry blossom, Sasuke won't be around for awhile. I'll be fine. I… love you, Sakura. So, please, don't worry about anything. Enjoy your time with your friends." He kissed her on the cheek and slowly walked out of the room to call Ino.

"OF COURSE SHE CAN STAY WITH ME!" Ino screamed across the phone making Gaara sigh as he yanked the phone away from his ear. "FINALLY YOU LET HER OUT OF THAT VILLAGE TO VISIT US! I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL HINATA AND KIBA ANDCHOUJI AND NARUTO AND SHINO AND TENTEN AND EVERYONE ELSE THAT I CAN'T REMEMBER RIGHT NOW CAUSE I'M SO EXCITED!"

"Thank you, Ino-san. I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience to have her stay for a week, but I have to business matters that will take up most of my time and I don't want her to feel lonely."

"Aww… is the responsibility finally getting to you, Gaara-_sama_?" she teasingly asked, accenting the last syllable to remind him he was leading a country now.

"No, it doesn't really have to do with The Sand Country right now, it's more personal," he said, making sure she knew that he was born to lead a country.

"Sasuke paid you guys a visit?" Ino asked, quickly changing personalities and becoming very serious.

"Sadly, yes. He kidnapped Sakura so he could ask me a few personal questions," Gaara, said calmly. He rotated the chair in his office to face the large window on his office wall and looked out on the village.

"What! Oh, he is so getting it next time I see his sorry little ass!" she said, getting angry and on the brink of yelling again.

"Don't worry, Ino-san. I took care of everything and Sakura doesn't have a scratch on her."

"Ok, well I have to finish makingChouji's dinner. He'll be home soon from work at the academy and I still have to finish the special rice I created to help control his weigh, he's been trying to lose a couple pounds for me. So when is Sakura going to be here?"

"She'll be there by tomorrow. And, Ino-san can you do me a favor while she's there?"

"Hmm?"

"Make sure she has fun and if she asks any questions about Sasuke or me change the subject and make sure she stays there the full week."

"Ok, Gaara," she said, but Gaara could tell there were questions behind that sentence to his motives and what the "business" he had to take care of was really about.

"I'll send her with some money to pay for anything she'll want to buy. Good-bye, Ino-san and tell Shikamaru I said hello," Gaara said, hanging up the phone. At that moment Sakura walked in the door and walked over to stand in front of him. She sat on his lap and curled into a ball with her head under his chin. "What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Nothing… I just had the sudden urge to snuggle with you," she said wrapping her arms around his torso. He looked down at the top of her head and smiled a little.

"Okay," he said, wrapping her in his strong arms.

They stayed there for an hour or two, not talking any calls or any visitors. Even the Kazekage needs to have some time alone with his wife.

Sasuke set up camp in the forest with the supplies he had retrieved from his hotel room.

"What the hell did you mean, Gaara? I… I love her more than you ever will…" he said, unsteadily. Almost as though he didn't believe himself, or he wanted to believe himself.

**Short ramblings!**

I know this isn't that long, but I confused my self by changing the direction of the plot as I was writing it. I bet you guys thought they were gonna fight. Well, that's what I was gonna do at first, but I changed my mind cause I really wanted you guys (and girls) to find out more about Gaara and Sasuke's feelings for Sakura. But don't worry, I'll most likely have them fight in a later chapter (hint hint). Well, hope you enjoyed. BYE! REEEVIEWWWW! Pwease?


	7. Chapter7:Your Breath,Your Heart,My World

**Chapter Seven: Your Breath, Your Heart, My World**

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to…… gasp?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it, never will… or will I?

* * *

As Sakura sat in the wagon being pulled by two horses and surrounded by seven guards, she thought about how ridiculous this was and how much faster she could go if Gaara weren't so overprotective. 

_I could already be there by now,_ she thought as she looked at the woven fabrics that covered the box frame of the cart. _I feel like produce that's being transferred. Ino's gonna go ballistic over how cool all this is. _Just as she thought that, she heard one of the guards yell something. _What now?_ She rolled her eyes and looked out the flap and winced at the light.

"What's going on?" she demanded, getting annoyed by them stopping, again.

"Nothing, Sakura-sama," reassured one of the guards, bowing deeply to her.

"Then why'd we stop?" she asked, looking at him with a weird look.

"We heard a sound in the woods," the guard said hesitantly.

"Oh, well… continue as soon as possible. I want to be in Konoha today," she said, disappearing back into the cart. She sighed. She didn't want to waste any of her week vacation; this was the first time she had been to Konoha in about a year and she didn't want anything messing it up. She was going to relax and forget Whatever-His-Name-Was. She was drawing in her notebook when the cart stopped again and she heard the guards grunting. "What the…" she started as she tried to look outside, but before she could pull back the flap someone stuck their head in. "S-Sasuke?" He smirked at her and looked her over.

"Looks like I picked the right traveling party to rade. I got myself a political beauty," he said, climbing fully into the cart.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" she asked, moving backwards, but within a few seconds her back was to the back wall.

"I came for you," he said matter-of-factly. He moved closer to her and touched her cheek.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, slapping his hand away. She looked up at him to see a hurt expression on his face, but it was quickly replaced with an amused smile.

"That's ok, I'll have plenty of chances soon," he said, putting his hand on her chin roughly and pulling her towards him. Their lips met and he kissed her passionately. But she was too shocked to do anything. This was the moment she had been dreaming of years ago, the moment when Sasuke and her shared their first kiss together.

_No! _her mind screamed at her. _Gaara's kisses are better! They have love in them! They don't have the bittertasteof lust in them, not like this!_ She finally gained her senses and pushed him away, spitting in his face in the process. "I SAID DON'T TOUCH ME!" she screamed, moving to get out of the cart, but he put her hands on her waist and yanked her towards him.

"I'll touch you when and where I want," he hissed into her ear. "And I feel like holding you in my lap right now," he finished, wrapping his strong arms around her, pinning her arms to her side. She looked down, tears flowing from her eyes.

_He's going to kidnap me and take me away, he'll hurt me and Gaara will be mad again… I've let Gaara down again… _She thought, but they were quickly snapped away by Inner Sakura.

**_What are you! Some kind of wuss? We're stronger than we were when he left us behind! Think of everything he did to us, he ignored us and turned us down at every chance and now he thinks we'll drop our whole life to follow him! I don't know about you but I'm not! Think of that night six years ago when he left us! We poured our heart out to him, but he still left us behind only saying "Thank you." Probably thanking us for amusing him with our desperation all those years. He hurt us and now he acts like he never did anything! MAKE HIM PAY!_**

_Y-you're right… HE CAN'T DO THIS TO US! HE HURT US AND NOW HE'LL PAY!_ she thought in response.

"S-Sasuke…" she said slowly.

"Yes, Sakura-chan," he said, still holding her tightly.

"Let go of me…" she said, clenching her fists.

"No," he said plainly, gripper her tightly.

"Fine, but don't blame me for your injuries," she said, elbowing him in the stomach as hard as she could. He coughed and winced.

"You've…_cough_… gotten stronger," he said slowly, taking in deep breathes. His grip had weakened and she took advantage of it. She broke his hold and punched him in the face. He hit the back of the cart hard. Sakura jumped on top of him while he was lying in a heap on the cart floor and punched him in the chest again.

"You shouldn't have knocked me out six years ago," she said looking down at him with anger.

"S-Sakura…" he said, clutching his chest, but not where she had hit him. He was holding onto his heart and breathing heavily. "Please… I-I'm sorry…" She looked down at him.

"Why the hell are you holding your heart?" she asked, still shaking with anger.

"G-Gaara said I have… a w-wound of the heart, or something l-like that…" he said, breathing heavier. Sakura looked down at him with a mixture of fear, anger, shock, and pity.

"S-Sasuke…" she said slowly, tears forming in her eyes. "I-I didn't mean to… I… I didn't want this to happen," she said. Sasuke looked up at her, feeling tears dropping onto his face.

"Sakura…" he said slowly, moving to get up and letting her slide slowly down his lap. He hugged her tightly and let her cry into his neck and shoulder. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to see you cry ever again."

"Sasuke, please… stop this and let me be with Gaara. I'm happy with him, he-he takes care of me," she said between hiccups and sniffles.

"I want you to be happy with me, Sakura-chan."

"I don't need you anymore," she repeated. And with that Sasuke let his arms drop to his sides, letting go of Sakura. "Thank you," she said, crawling out of the cart. She grabbed her bags and continued walking to Konoha.

When she got there Ino, Hinata, Chouji, Naruto, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Neji, TenTen, Lee, and Tsunade-sama were all waiting at the entrance. Ino and Naruto were the first to see her and raced to hug her, but Ino, of course, tripped Naruto and hugged Sakura tightly. Sakura merely laughed and was thankful to finally be there. She just wanted to see everyone and talk to them, see how they had been.

As everyone went back into Konoha to go out to eat, Sakura looked over her shoulder and realized that she had finally left Sasuke behind. She had finally gotten her revenge after six years. But why didn't it feel as good as she wanted it to?

Sasuke sat in the cart staring at the spot Sakura had been. He had blown it; he had blown his last chance to tell her how he felt. How much he loved her, how much he **needed **her. He clutched his heart even more, the pain was back and it had doubled. He breathed in slowly for a few minutes, taking in the crisp air of the forest.

After a few minutes he looked around the cart and saw a pad of paper. He picked it up and leafed through it. It was Sakura's sketchbook.

_She's really good_, he thought as he examined pictures of desert flowers and a few birds. He flipped to the next picture and saw a colored drawing of Gaara in his wedding robes. Sasuke had to admire how good she had made him look, even if he was a lowlife idiot who had taken her away from him. He flipped the pages a few more times and found an interesting picture. She had drawn her as he remembered her looking, in her red dress when they were in the same cell in Konoha. She was standing near the middle of the page with tears streaming down her cheeks. In the background was Sasuke. His back was turned and he was walking away from her.

He quickly turned the page to find a picture of Sakura and him. This time they were facing each other.

Sakura had a hand clutching her chest and Sasuke had his hands in his pockets.

She was crying and looking at him with pleading eyes and he was glaring at her.

She was dressed in a beautiful white summer dress with pink flowers lightly sprinkling it and he was dressed in all black.

She was on her knees and he had his curse seal marks covering him.

Sasuke continued to stare at the drawing. This is what she must have been dreaming about. The day he had broken that Sound Ninja's arms during the second part of the Chuunin Exams. He had gotten mad at them for hurting her and wanted to kill them, he would have too if she hadn't stopped him. She was the only thing that had been able to contain his curse seal back then. Now it was under control from a medicine Orochimaru and Kabuto had given him when he had left.

He turned the page, revealing a picture of Temari and Kankurou smiling. She was so good; she must have taken up drawing a while ago. He flipped the page and found a drawing of Sakura and Gaara hugging, she was smiling, but her hair hid his face. Her arms her wrapped tightly around his neck and his loosely around her waist. Her eyes were closed and she wore the same white sundress she had been in a few pictures ago.

He flipped the page again to find a poem:

_Your Breath, Your Heart, My World_

_By: Haruno Sakura _

_Dedicated to: Gaara of the Desert for loving me and always loving me, more than I ever thought possible_

_I can hear you breathing,_

_I can feel your heart beating,_

_They're tell me you're still here,_

_That's my only fear,_

_That one day you'll leave,_

_And on that eve,_

_My world will fall,_

_And like a broken doll,_

_My seams will ripe,_

_Because when you're around I'll never fall or trip,_

_Never become lost or confused,_

_Your love is something my heart could never have refused,_

_Because when you're around things don't seem so bad,_

_Even though sometimes I make you mad,_

_Sometimes I may say stupid things,_

_I know you'll forever be my wings,_

_Lift me to the sky and never allow me to fall,_

_You are my world and You are my stonewall._

Sasuke read the poem a few more times, even though the rhyming wasn't very good and there was no rhythm to it, he liked it. It got the point across and everything.

He read the dedication again realized that he couldn't give up yet. He had to get her back no matter how long it took or what he had to do. No matter how many times she hit him, he would prove that she meant everything to him. He got out of the cart, the sketchbook under his arm, and walked down the road. He didn't know where he was going and honestly didn't care. He needed to get somewhere to plan something, anything. He just had to clear his thoughts and think straight.

**Short Ramblings!**

Hey! sorry for the long length of time without an update. I wrote chapter 9, but my computer messed up and deleted it so now I have to rewrite it (with some changes cause the chapter was really sucky) so that set me back about two or three days cause I just couldn't get the chapter the way I want. But I promise I'll update within a week. Thank you for staying faithful and reading all the way up to here. Review and continue reading! (Also I'm working on a new summary so yeah, the one that's posted is getting kinda old)


	8. Chapter Eight: I Hate You

**Chapter Eight: I Hate You**

(**Old) Summary:** Sasuke comes back to find that Sakura has married someone else! But who? (Gaara, duh, that's like Chapter Two, come on!) Sasuke tell her he loves her and…. (She got pissed, COME ON!)

**(New) Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to… (gasp?)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it, said it seven times already, so get off my back! I JUST WANT TO WRITE! DANGIT!………Great now I have writer's block.

* * *

"NO! I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Sakura screamed while throwing all the stuff out of her bag, completely making a mess of the guest room she was staying in. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I LOST IT!" Ino walked by the room and stared at it with disbelief. 

"Sakura! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" she screamed, looking around the room she had just cleaned the previous evening.

"I LOST MY SKETCHBOOK!" Sakura screamed, grabbing Ino by the shirt. She turned her head and looked out the window. _I hope I didn't leave it in the cart… Sasuke would definitely have found it. What if… I just hope he didn't look through it,_ she thought as she continued to look out the window.

"Sakura, maybe you just forgot it at home," Ino said after a moment of silence.

"No, I left it in the cart I was riding in," Sakura said, sighing and dropping her arms to her sides.

"Why didn't you arrive in the cart then?" Ino asked.

"Oh, I didn't want people to think Gaara was overprotective of me, he sent seven guards to watch me. Like I couldn't handle myself if I needed to," Sakura said, starting to pick up her things.

"Dinner's in five if you're hungry," Ino said, backing out the door and continuing with what she was doing.

_I don't want Ino worrying about me. I just hope Gaara didn't tell her about Sasuke kidnapping me… Maybe it'd be ok if she knew though. She would know what to do if he came looking for me here._

Gaara sat at his desk, looking out the window, his fingers intertwined with each other under his chin. It was the day Sakura was supposed to come home and there wasn't any sign of Sasuke, there hadn't been all week. She would be back that evening and he didn't want her seeing Sasuke again.

He slowly grabbed a photograph from his desk and looked at it. Sakura was standing in a pale green dress with her hair in two long braids that hung in front of her shoulders. She had her hands overlapping each other in front of her. She wasn't smiling, she looked sad, like someone had died. But he knew why she was sad. That was the day Gaara had officially met Sakura parents and they hadn't liked him at all. They had always wanted her to marry Sasuke and they had made that perfectly clear. Besides, he was from a different village and he hadn't been especially polite to them. He hadn't only mumbled responses to their questions even though every time he only gave one word answers Sakura had given him a subtle mean look and nudged him. Her mother had taken this picture of her after she told her that she didn't approve of Gaara.

He sighed and put the picture back, he had no idea why he kept it there, maybe to remind him how hard he had worked to impress her parents after that day so they would let him propose to Sakura later on. That was the first time he had ever tried to impress anyone and he had been horrible at it at first but slowly got used to sucking up to her father and helping her mother with things around their house. But it had all paid off, he had been able to marry Sakura and he'd been happy ever since.

Gaara became so lost in thought that he dropped his guard and didn't notice the person behind his chair. The person behind him took out a katana and stabbed it through the back of the chair, stabbing through Gaara shoulder. He didn't have his gourd anywhere near him so there was no protection from the hit. He coughed up blood, shocked by the sudden attack and relieved that the figure behind him hadn't hit anything vital.

"I see you're as weak as ever, _Gaara_," the figure hissed into his ear.

"Sasuke," Gaara said, wincing and gasping for air.

"Bingo," Sasuke said, walking around the chair to stand in front of the Kazekage. He picked up the picture he had seen Gaara looking at a few minutes ago. "She's made you weak. You were thinking of her and I could've killed you just now. But I think Sakura would want to see you die, then she'd seek comfort from me, the first person she would see." He pulled out two kunai and held one in each hand. "How should I injure you though? I wonder…"

"You wouldn't dare…" Gaara said weakly, he was losing blood from his shoulder, but knew it wouldn't be enough to kill him, not till later. Not until Sakura came home.

"Oh, I believe I would. I've killed all your guards and everyone else in this building so there's no chance of anyone finding you until Sakura comes home tonight. She'll be able to watch me prove my love for her, she'll see you die."

"You really think that will work?" Gaara asked. "She would hate you for killing her first true love."

"No! I'm her first love and her only one!" Sasuke yelled as he punched Gaara in the stomach. Gaara gasped and coughed up more blood, adding up to the pool in his lap.

"You'll… never win her back… Sasuke," Gaara said, looking up at him. He had regained his composure and acted as if nothing had happened. As though there wasn't a blade stuck through his shoulder and blood spilling from it.

"I know for a fact that she still thinks of me and remembers me," Sasuke said, smirking. He pulled the sketchbook out from the pack on his back and flipped to a picture of Sakura and him hugging. She was crying but it was barely visible. Gaara glared at the picture and then looked up at Sasuke.

"You bastard, where did you get that?"

"I found it in the cart you had her trapped in. You might want to start hiring better guards, none of then even fought back when I killed them. I wouldn't even call them guards, more like targets for practice."

"What did you do to her!" Gaara said, making a move to get up but then painfully remembering the katana that was still through his shoulder.

"The better question is what did she do to me?" Sasuke said, rubbing his chest where the bruise was still present. "I took a nasty shot from her. The little angel got mad at me when I tried to tell her something," he continued, remembering that he had never been able to tell her. She had exploded before he had gotten up the nerve. He sighed and looked down at Gaara. "Why'd you have to interfere?"

"What? I'm the one interfering! I'm not the one who's trying to take advantage of Sakura!" Gaara said, once again making a move to get up but the sword only cut deeper. He sat back down and grunted slightly.

"I wouldn't try that again if I were you. And I'm not the one taking advantage of Sakura-chan!" Sasuke said, calmly at first, but raised his voice and stabbed the two kunai in his hands through Gaara's sleeves on the chair arms. Gaara merely sat calmly, barely noticing Sasuke's outbreak.

"She doesn't need you anymore, you know that right? She's told you that plenty of times before," Gaara said, looking up at Sasuke who was now leafing through the sketchbook. He was looking thoughtfully at a picture of Gaara and Sakura, wondering how she could fall for an idiot like him.

"How the hell could she love you and not me?" he mumbled.

"Easy, I was there when she needed someone to help her through a depressing part of her life. Remember? You were the whole cause of her depression. You left her behind even when she told you everything she felt, everything she had ever felt for you in all the time she knew you, and you just left her there. She was hurt and you didn't care, you only cared about revenge," Gaara stated calmly. He looked out the window at Suna. The desert reminded him of Sakura. Untouched and innocent, but harsh when someone messed with it or didn't know of it's abilities. But he had been able to touch it, just like he controlled sand he knew all of Sakura weakness, strengths, likes, dislikes, and how to please her even when she was upset and crying. "You know nothing about her," Gaara said after a few minutes of silence. He looked up at Sasuke to see that he wasn't in front of him anymore.

He looked around the room and felt his shoulder, the katana was gone, but he was still bleeding badly. He sat in his chair for a few more minutes until the darkness of unconsciousness finally took him and fell to the floor. But before the blackness closed over his eyes he heard a voice say, "Oh, and Gaara? I do really love her and I'll never give up, she's my whole world and I'm not losing her to a baka like you."

As Sakura walked into the gates of Suna she breathed deeply, glad to be home again. Even though Konoha was her first home, she still loved Suna more somehow. She slowly walked through the market place and looked at all of her favorite foods that Konoha didn't have. She bought a snack from a booth and ate it on her way home. She hurriedly made her way home. She couldn't wait to be wrapped in Gaara-kun's arms again. She blushed at her own thoughts of her first night back home. But those thoughts were quickly dispelled. She knew that wouldn't happen tonight. He would say that she should get her rest because she had traveled for a long time, even though it didn't even take half a day to get from Konoha to Suna or visa-versa.

After she put her stuff in her room she walked to Gaara's office, it was five in the afternoon and she wanted to see him as soon as possible. As she opened the door and looked around she didn't see him, she hadn't seen anyone in the building, come to think of it. She decided to look around his office to see what was up. As she made her way around the desk, she looked down on the ground and found Gaara in a large pool of blood.

"G…G-Gaa…ra…" she said, not wanting to believe what she was looking at. "GAARA-KUN!" she screamed and knelt by him. "Please… wake up, Gaara," she pleaded, turning him on his back and examining his shoulder wound. It went all the way through and still bled a little. "Don't leave me, Gaara!" she screamed, tears were streaming from her eyes and falling all over his face. "I-I…I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU, GAARA! YOU'RE EVERYTHING I HAVE AND EVERYTHING I NEED, Y-YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" she yelled at him, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I LOV-" she started, but before she could finish she felt a hand on her cheek, wiping her tears away.

"I'm not going anywhere, my little cherry blossom," Gaara said, looking up at her. "I would never do that to you," he stated, looking into her eyes. His voice was soft and he didn't sound anything like the Gaara she knew, but she didn't care about that right now. She was only happen he was alive.

"Gaara," she whispered, starting to cry again. "I was so scared. I thought you were…"

"Shh… You should never be scared. Not while I'm around," he said, comforting her. He moved his hand to her shoulder. "I need you to be brave right now, Sakura-chan. Even when there's no hope or light in this darkness, you need to remember that I'll always be there, holding your hand," he said, holding her hand on his chest, above his heart. "You're the only one who knows I have a heart and the only one who I can give my love to… I love you, Sakura. Never forget that."

"I love you, Gaara. I love you so much," she said, bending down and kissing him deeply.

"Sakura…" Gaara said after they had broken apart.

"Yes?"

"Can you take me to the hospital now?"

"Of course," Sakura said, blushing at her idiocy and smiling sweetly at him.

"Thank you."

**Short Ramblings! HUZZAH!**

I know this is a short one compared to my previous updates, but this is how the whole framing thing worked out. That's why I'm posting two chapters this time and because the reasonin the shortramblings on chapternine!

This chapter didn't have the exact effect I really wanted. I just couldn't put into words the sadness of thinking you're losing someone. I've known that feeling, but I just couldn't express what I felt at that moment, knowing they were lost in Sakura's screams. Still a very weepy chapter.

It's dedicated to all those people who're reading that actually want Sasuke to get Sakura and see GAARA'S BUTT WHOOPED! But don't worry those who want Sakura to continue to be with Gaara and those who want Gaara to KILL SASUKE! There's more of that to come. If at least one person cried during this chapter, I will be happy! BYE! REVIEW! Pwetty pwease? **smiles and winks and blows a smexy kiss**

(HA! HAHAHAHAH! OMG, I HAD TO PUT THAT SO BAD! I'VE BEEN WANTING TO DO THAT FOREVER! SORRY TO THE GIRLS OUT THERE IF THAT SCARED YOU THAT WAS MEANT FOR THE BOYS ONLY! if there are any reading this FF, which I kinda sorta doubt a little since this is a mushy love story, sorta. Maybe. A little?)


	9. Chapter 9: You'll Never Leave Me, Right?

Chapter Nine: You'll Never Leave Me, Right?

**Summary: **As Sasuke continues to pursue Sakura, he finds out it's going to be a lot harder than he thought. He has to come up with a plan or he'll never have the love of his life back. If only there was a way to get Gaara to… (gasp?)

**Disclaimer:**

Author: (sigh) I… don't… own…

Sasuke: Hurry up so I can win Sakura back already!

Gaara: (mumbles) She doesn't love you…

Sasuke: What was that, Sandboy?

Gaara: Nothing, Mr. I-Have-A-Chicken's-Butt-For-Hair

Sasuke: AT LEAST **I** HAVE EYEBROWS!

Author: I DON'T OWN NARUTO! NOW SHUT UP YOU TWO!

Gaara and Sasuke: Yes, ma'am!

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Sasuke watched as Sakura and Gaara kissed and she helped him to the hospital. He hated himself for letting this happen, he should have killed Gaara when he had the chance. He hated Gaara for living and for turning a situation that was supposed to be against him into an opportunity to get even closer to Sakura. He slammed the side of the building with his fist, leaving a dent in the concrete. He jumped down from the building, scaring a few people on the street. He glared at them and walked off into the desert towards the woods of Konoha. He sat in his tent, flipping through the sketchbook for the sixth time. How could she love Gaara when she had so many wonderful pictures of him? He flipped to the picture she had been drawing the most recently and stared at it with shock. _What is this!_ He thought as he stared at it.

Sakura lie in her bed, crying again. She hated him so much, she hated Sasuke for every time he had touched her, every word he had spoken, every movement and breath he had ever taken. He had hurt her in every possible way, and now that she had finally hurt him in his most vulnerable place, his heart, she felt regret for ever saying anything to him. He shouldn't have…

"Sakura-chan? What's the matter?" Gaara said as he walked into their room to find her laying in bed still. Her face was buried in her pillow and she was shaking. He knew exactly what was the matter. It was him again.

"N-_hic_-nothing, Gaara-kun," she said, lifting her face from the pillow and sniffling while wiping her cheeks. "I was just scared that's all," she added, smiling up at him. The sun illuminated her face, showing all the tears stains that lined from her eyes to her chin, from the corners of her eyes to her hairline and from her eyes to any other part of her face. Her nose was tinted red, her eyes were blood-shot and puffy, and her hair was soaked in some places.

_How could he do this to you, Sakura?_ he thought, looking down at her with worry and doubt. The sight of her right now was making him want to cry. She hated seeing her like this… this was how it was every morning he came to get her now, since she stayed in bed as long as she could for the past week. Ever since she had found him bleeding on the floor of his office.

"Gaara…" he heard her whispering. He looked up at her, her head was bent over her lap and her fists were clenching the covers in her lap. "I'm sorry I'm being such a bother to you… I hate you seeing me like this. No matter how much I hide it, I'm crying. And I'm scared. So scared. So very scared it hurts to think. How far have I fallen, Gaara-kun?" she asked, looking up at him, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. "How far has he pushed me over the edge and let me fall? How far was I when you caught me? How far will I fall this time? How much farther is it till I finally break… Why can't I just break now? Why can't I crash and my seams be ripped open! Why is he doing this to me? What did I do? What did I say…" she screamed, still staring into his eyes as though the answers could be read there.

"Sakura… you did all you could, you said everything you needed to. He was the one that hurt you, he was the one that left you," he said plainly, but when he looked back up at her she had her head down again and tears were falling on the back of her fists. Her nails were digging into her skin and blood was beginning to stain the blanket. He moved over to her and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Sakura… you're so innocent and sweet. Why does that emotionless baka do this to you? Why does he want to hurt my little flower?" he said, calling her by the nickname he only used when she needed the comfort of it. She clutched his arms and had the top of her head resting on his chest.

"I'm just so scared, Gaara. I'm afraid he'll take you away from me…" and with that sentence a new fear struck her. "Gaara!" she screamed suddenly, looking up at him with wide eyes and touching his face making sure he was still there. "You would never leave me, right?"

"Of course not, Sakura-chan. I'll always been right here. I'll always been near you when you need me," he said, looking at her softly. That was a special look only she would ever receive. She smiled back and hugged him. She continued to cry in his arms for the next two hours. She cried for what Sasuke had done to her six years ago, for what he had done to Gaara, and for everything he had ever done to her all those years ago. She just wanted to sit there in Gaara's arms forever and feel his warmth against her body. It was so comforting that she ended up falling asleep again.

"Sakura…" Sasuke whispered as he stood outside the window in her room. "I'm sorry… for everything." That was what he wanted to say that day in the cart. He wanted to tell her he was sorry for anything and everything. He just wanted her to be with him, just for a little. To know that she at least still thought of him, but he didn't want to make her cry like this. He hadn't meant to do any of this to her. He just wanted to be in Gaara's place right now. To hold her and be the one comforting her, to kiss her, and make love to her. Her smell intoxicated him in that cart and he wanted to hold her and smell her hair, she smelled like cinnamon.

Later that day as Sakura was cooking dinner she looked out the window that was in front of her. She sighed softly. She had been half hoping that Sasuke was outside the window. She shook those thoughts out of her head. She had Gaara. She looked down at the salad she had been washing.

As Gaara sat in his office he looked down at the papers that was signing. _Sakura…_ he thought and pictured the day he had proposed. He had tried to be romantic, he really did, but it hadn't quite worked out. He had taken her to the same spot that he had told her that he thought he loved her. He had set up hundreds of candles there to light it and lined a path with sakura petals. He had led her like last time there, it was dark and they had just finished another one of their dates. It had been four years after the incident with Sasuke and she was over him now and loved him. She had said it numerous times, not many but still enough. He drifted off into the memory of it and didn't notice Sakura come in the door.

She snuck up behind his chair and tried to think of what would be funniest to do to him. Then it hit her. She bent down so she could easily whisper into his ear.

"Mmm… Gaara-kun?" she whispered as best as she could. "That feels sooo good, Gaara-kun. Oh, keep going." She looked at his face and noticed it had turned as red as his hair. She tried to hold back her laughter. "Gaara, oh, keep doing that." Gaara was completely frozen in shock and embarrassment. His face was a bright crimson now. "Gaara?" Sakura asked in her normal voice. "Are you okay?"

"Uh…" Gaara squeaked as his nose started to bleed. He jumped up, but Sakura pulled him down into the chair.

"Oh, now don't be shy, Gaara-kun. Come a little closer," Sakura giggled. She always loved messing around with him like this. It had been a while since she had. "I'll take care of everything," she whispered into his ear. She exited the room and came back with a small bowl of water and a few napkins. "You get embarrassed so easy," she said as she sat on his lap and cleaned up his face. He was still blushing, remembering the tone of her voice.

"That's not funny," he said grumpily. He hated when she did that, it always made him get a nosebleed.

"Oh, come on, Gaara-kun. Lighten up a little. Have some fun," Sakura smiled at him. "Naruto always said that to me when he played practical jokes on people and I didn't approve."

"Sakura…"

"Hm?"

"Do you miss Konoha at all?"

"A little, but I love Suna and you so I'm happier here than I would be there. And besides, you allow my friends to come visit me and let me go there sometimes," she said, smiling at him still. It was true that sometimes she missed it, but she saw Ino every month and the others at times.

"Sakura, do you ever regret marrying me?" Gaara said, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Only when you ask silly questions like that. You know I'd rather be with you than anyone in the universe," she looked at him. "What's with the stupid questions all the sudden?"

"Oh, nothing, just feeling random today," he lied, but she seemed to accept it so he didn't push his luck. He sighed and looked down at the papers he had been working on. He sighed again thinking about how much work he had to do. He still had to send some mission requests to the Stone Country and the Waterfall Country. Then he had to read and assign two requests from the Grass and Cloud Countries.

"I'll leave if you want to finish your work," Sakura said.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. But could you do one thing for me?"

"Sure," Sakura said, getting up and began cleaning up the napkins and bowl of water. "What's up?"

Gaara got up and moved behind her, wrapping his arms around her hips, close to her sensitive area. She blushed. She put his chin on her shoulder and whispered into her ear. "Wear something sexy tonight," he said, then started kissing her neck. It was Sakura's turn to blush. But she knew that Gaara was just using her own weapon against her.

"Oh, but Gaara," she said innocently, turning around to face him. "I don't have anything worthy of you looking at." She pressed her hips against his and kisses his neck softly. Gaara's immediately started bleeding again.

"Ok, Sakura. You got me again, you can stop," and when he said that Sakura popped her head up with a victorious smile.

"I win, again!" Sakura said, pulling away from Gaara and wetting another napkin. She cleaned his face quickly and ran out of the room saying something about getting him tea.

When she got to the hall she quickly wetted one of the napkins and cleaned her bloody nose, thankful that Gaara hadn't seen it.

She stepped into the kitchen and looked out the window. Sasuke stared back at her with cold eyes. She felt a pang of guilt for what had happened in the office, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was the way Sasuke was looking at her.

Wait… what was Sasuke doing outside their house. She quickly set down the tea and ran outside.

She stood in front of him, staring at him. "Sasuke?" He looked over at her, still staring coldly at her, as if contemplating as though he should tell her something.

"Sakura, I'm through with these games."

"What do you mean, Sasuke?" she asked, taking a step towards him. They were only about two yards from each other.

"Sakura, do you still love me?" he looked down at the ground, like he regretted asking the question. He was afraid of the answer.

"Yes, I do," she said, looking away at some of the houses near hers.

"Then why didn't you wait for me, Sakura?"

"I…" she said, trying to think of a good reason to why she hadn't waited for him. "I didn't think you'd ever come back for me. I didn't think you loved me."

"I did and I still do," Sasuke said, looking back up at her. His eyes weren't cold anymore. They looked a little sad to Sakura. "Will you run away with me, Sakura?"

"I-" she wanted to say yes. To be impulsive and spontaneous, but she couldn't. She had to think about Gaara, about the life they had together for the past six years. She had to think of what Sasuke had done back then. He probably wouldn't hesitate to do it again in a heartbeat. "-can't. I don't think I could ever feel the same way about you again, Sasuke. I love you, yes. But I love Gaara more. He treats me like way I had hoped you would treat me all those years ago. I just… I can't leave him. Not after all he's done for me."

"But I need you more than him, Sakura. I love you more than he could ever love you!"

"No, you don't, Sasuke. You're hanging onto the past. I've changed… you've changed. We're not the same people we were six or seven years ago. I'm more mature, and from the looks of it, you're not," she said, turning her back on him. "It's my turn to leave you, Sasuke. And I won't come back and neither should you. Get over me and find someone that you belong with." She walked back into the house and looked out the kitchen window again. She saw Sasuke still staring forward at where she had been standing.

He was crying.

**Short Ramblings!**

**This is the second to last chapter, meaning chapter ten is the last one. Thank you everyone who reviewed! Especially Songstress of Victory and fallen.lunar! They were the first to review and I want to thank them for their support and help!**

**LoveShinobi4eva (ya happy? i made Sasuke-teme cry just for you, lol!)**

**Scapegoat**

**Neji's Cherry Blossom (who I think I turned into a GaaraXSakura lover now, maybe?)**

**darkness 4 eternity**

**yumifan05**

**Firemoon520**

**kawaii chibi sasuke luver (sorry for all the cliffhangers!)**

**La princesa zorro**

**Darkness Eternity**

**SilverSimoneLady (who just barely made it onto this list, good timing on the review!)**

**All of them reviewed and supported me. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! I promise the tenth and last chapter is coming soon! I already have it typed, but, ya know what? I feel like making all of you wait, just for the sake of tension and cliffies!**


	10. Chapter Ten: It's Finally Over

**Chapter Ten: Is It Over?**

**This last chapter! OMG, I'm so sad right now! This is my first fanfiction and I'm so sad about ending it. Even though I know it sort of dragged on with all of Sasuke's attempts and everything. Thank you again everyone who read and supported me! Hope you keep an eye out for my next one. Probably won't be for a while though. I suck at coming up with ideas, but when I get a good one I keep going with it. It's exactly opposite with my sister, she always get ideas for stuff but can never finish them or get them started properly. I hope you enjoy the last chapter! Please comment and tell me how you thought about the overall story. Flamers accepted and everything.**

**Summary and Disclaimer: ok, if you haven't read them by now, then you're just as lazy as Shikamaru. They're on the first 9 chapters!

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Sakura lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Questions zooming so fast through her mind she couldn't properly think about them, let alone answer them.

_Should I have gone with Sasuke?_

_What would Gaara do?_

_Would he even care?_

_Why didn't I go with Sasuke?_

_Am I really that afraid of getting hurt?_

_Was I lying about still loving him?_

_Do I still love him?_

_Do I really love Gaara more than him?_

_Why did Sasuke ask me to go with him?_

_Why do I care what Sasuke does or thinks?_

The questions kept playing through her head like a broken record. She decided to go sit on the roof to clear her mind and get some fresh air. She climbed the stairs and climbed the wall using her chakra and opened the window. The cold air hit her hard as she breathed it in deeply. She was dressed in a short sleeves shirt and pajama pants. She had forgotten her robe and stared to shiver.

She crawled out of the window, shutting it quietly. She sat next to the window, staring down at the quiet town. It was 2:37 am and no one was around. She hugged her knees to her chest and folded her arms on top of her knees. She rested her chin on her knees, just behind her arms.

She thought that she would have cried even more after seeing Sasuke and after everything she had said to him. She had really left him and walked away. It was just like a replay of six years ago, only the roles were changed. She hadn't cried at all, she was numb. And that seemed to hurt her more than crying.

She felt someone wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. "You looked cold," Gaara said as she looked up at him. He handed her a mug of hot chocolate and sat next to her. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I… I couldn't sleep," Sakura said hesitantly, taking a quick sip of hot chocolate. It washed over her insides warming her up a little. She leaned her head on Gaara's shoulder and moved closer to him.

"Are you ok?" Gaara said, as though reading her thoughts.

"No… Sasuke came by the house again today. I told him the truth that I loved him, but I loved you more. That I would never be able to feel the same way about him because of what he had done. And that that time it was my turn to walk away from him," Sakura said, taking another sip of hot chocolate. "But when I got inside the house again I saw him outside crying. And somehow, I didn't care anymore. I haven't cried at all since then."

"That just means that your subconscious doesn't think he's worth your tears. And he's not," Gaara said, putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Gaara… I'm sorry for putting you through all this. It's my fault you got hurt and that you had to keep seeing me laying in bed crying like that. I just… seeing him brought back all those painful memories that I'd been holding in. Everything from seeing him for the first time to what happened in The Forest of Death all the way to the night he left me. I just couldn't help but think about everything," Sakura said, looking down and feeling like she wasn't worth anything crap.

"Sakura, when I asked you to marry me and accept my feelings, I was accepting you and everything that came with you. Whether it was good or bad. I was taking on your feelings and memories. And I've never regretted it, not even now," Gaara said soothingly, tipping her chin up and kissing her on the forehead, then on the cheek, and ending on her lips. He kissed her for a quick second, to show that he didn't want to take advantage of her when she was feeling like this. She set down her cup and looked down slightly, but then turned her gaze into his eyes and kept it there.

"Gaara, I just wish that I could forget about him. But I can't. And it hurts knowing that. But somehow, it doesn't seem so bad when I think of how you're always there when I need you. You always have been, ever since the beginning. I owe you everything for that," she said looking into his eyes.

"Sakura, you don't owe me anything. You've done so much for me too. You're the first and only person I've ever loved and you've made it worth everything. Like I've said before, I don't regret a second of any of this," he said, taking her into his embrace and holding her loosely but firmly.

"Gaara…" she looked up at him and started crying. She couldn't figure out why the tears had finally come then, but she let them pour down her cheeks. They sat together on the roof until morning. Sakura fell asleep just as the sun was peaking over the hills of sand in the desert. Gaara carried her into her room, thankful that she hadn't left him and that he was still able to hold her.

Sasuke sat in the woods, not knowing where to go or what to do.

_She hates me now. She'll never come with me and I can't make her. Not with Gaara around. I'll never have her. I don't even deserve her. I never will and never have,_ he thought as he stared down at the fire he had built for the night. _I can't take this anymore. I'm giving up on her and finding someone else. She'll never want me like she used to. I took her for granted just like Itachi said before our final fight. He knew everything that had happened between Sakura and I somehow and he had said that I took her for granted and that I should've stayed in Konoha with her just to tick me off. Maybe he was saying it because it was true. I should have stayed there and forgotten about getting revenge. Then maybe I'd be happy. Maybe I can find someone else and be happy. I'll go back to Konoha and live there, near my old friends. Hopefully I'll be able to rebuild my life there._

Everything was over and everything was done. Sasuke couldn't do anything to get her back and Gaara would never let go of her. They'd be together for the rest of their lives, have children and she'd forget about Sasuke.

He knew this was a fact, not just his fear anymore.

His fears had become reality and his reality was now a far away dream that could never be reached.

He had given up too soon and come too late.

He Was Too Late, She Was Finished.

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**Short Ramblings (for the last time)!**

**I'm a little worried about the ending, but please review whether you liked it or not. Meaning flamers are accepted! I don't know if Sasuke would accept defeat that easily, but I figured he'd be a little tired of trying after all this hell he's been through. He just thought that she wasn't worth it, that's all. Meaning he really didn't love her. Thank you everyone for reading my first fanfiction. I know it's not the best, but I hope it's good enough. Review please!**


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